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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

The athlete's achievements which pre-date that test - such as her world record performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a 48-month suspension but the 31-year-old punishment was lowered to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's test showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also found in a sample taken from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned questionable proof obtained from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, stating that she had used her housemaid's medication - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, championships, participation and prize money from March 14 lost.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the system is designed to operate."

"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of uncovering doping violations performed by elite athletes in their races."